Video files are typically pretty large, meaning if you upload to your own server or directly to your website, it could slow things right down (especially if you’re not a tech guru). Without a hosting platform, video quality and appearance can also suffer.

If you try and manage it yourself, your videos are likely to result in different looks through different browsers, which can result in a poor, inconsistent experience for your audience.

Hosting your videos on a third party platform is the simplest and smartest way to take care of those issues. They ensure your video is available to viewers without any stress, and include multiple analytic features allowing you to measure, learn and improve.

Here are the big three – YouTube, Vimeo and Wistia – broken into positives, negatives and the all-important cost.

YouTube

YouTube is free and easy to use. It’s also the second largest search engine, trumped only by Google, making it one of the best options for getting your videos in front of the masses.

But YouTube is certainly not a “build it and they will come” platform (unless your videos are of crazy goats or Justin Bieber). You will still need to promote your videos through your own platforms.

Thumbs up:

Search: YouTube is the second largest search engine, helping you get found

Reach: You can boost the reach of your videos through YouTube’s advertising platform

Share: Videos are easy to embed on your own website, share on social sites, or integrate with many other platforms

Analytics: To track views, likes, dislikes and comments

Privacy: You have the capability to hide videos from public view and search

Collaboration: You can add individual users to your business channel to help manage your account

Thumbs down:

Focus: YouTube can be a distracting. The platform encourages procrastination by suggesting videos and engaging in comments

Customisation: There’s minimal customisation options available although you can add buttons and links within your videos

Pricing:

Free: To upload videos and to watch, making it a great starting point

Paid: You can promote your videos through their paid advertising platform

VimeoVimeo is what we use here at 3Genies. It’s a creative, business and quality focused platform that includes default HD streaming and customisation.

Thumbs up:

Focus: Attracts creative types that make high quality videos, so there’s far less noise

Privacy: Paid plans have privacy options with password protection

Customisation: The video player can be customised

Collaboration: Higher tier plans allow team collaboration

Share: It’s easy to embed videos or link them

Analytics: Basics on the free plan, with more advanced options with the paid plans

Thumbs down:

Search: Anecdotally, you’re less likely to see a Vimeo video in Google search results. Google owns YouTube so they have that slight advantage.

Pricing:

Free: The basic plan is free, with limited storage space, analytics and support

Paid: Paid plans start at $69.95 AUS / year, with Vimeo Pro/Business $219AUS / year being the package most suited to advice practices

WistiaWistia is for serious videographers. They have a beautiful player that can be customised to any colour plus advanced statistics and analytics.

Analytics: Advanced analytics and heat map tracking show you exactly what’s working

Privacy: You can restrict where videos are played and how they appear on search and social

Customisation: The player is highly customisable and offers premium features such as capturing email addresses and calls to actions

Share: It’s easy to embed or use video links

Search: Video SEO returns results directly to your website

Collaboration: Additional users can be added to paid accounts

Focus: Wistia acts only as a place to host videos, which means no distractions

Thumbs down:

Price: It can get pretty pricey if you need to upload a lot of videos or use a lot of bandwidth

Pricing:

Free: The first 5 videos are free

Paid: Paid plans start at $100 US / month and increase from there

There’s not one best platform suited to everyone and you may end up using more than one. Wistia to host your homepage hero video, YouTube for blog videos, and Vimeo for your private client-only videos.

The great thing is, you can try them all for free before committing. The key is to consider your needs and goals, and make a reasoned (and budgeted) decision from there.